Drop 50 Pounds

Keep a food diary. If you write everything down, you’ll be so surprised at what you’ve eaten. That’s what got me. I was so absent-minded with my eating that I’d walk into the kitchen and grab something when I wasn’t even hungry.
Sue Jones, 32, lost 50 lbs

Try to stick with naturally low-fat foods, like fruits, fish, and vegetables. Avoid fat-free foods because often they just remove the fat and replace it with sugar and that’s not a healthy way to go.
Dana Roberts, 30, lost 35 lbs

Start imagining what being successful at losing weight could look like. Then every week take just one step to get nearer to your goal. Maybe switch from cream to milk in your coffee or dust off your bike and take it for a spin around the neighbourhood. Just one step every week will get you closer to that picture of what your life could be. Then take another step and another. I’d been heavy all through my 30s and I was turning 40 and thought ‘I don’t want to spend the next decade looking like this.’
Pauline Wallace, 43, lost 50 lbs

Don’t weigh yourself. I only weighed myself three times while I was losing weight, which was helpful. If you’re constantly weighing yourself, and you gain a pound, it plays with your mind and you end up eating a bag of chips. 
Sheila Clark, 31, lost 65 lbs

Give yourself a year. I broke down the 96 pounds I had to lose into one or two pounds every week and just took it one day at a time.
Joyce Brown, 45, lost 96 lbs

Drop 100+ Pounds

Make it a priority in your life. As women, we always give to everyone else first and we put ourselves last. I flipped the coin and put myself first and the only person who comes before me now is my daughter. Everyone else can wait. By putting myself first I didn’t feel guilty about going to the gym three times a week and being away from my family.
Dottie Kettle, 32, lost 103 lbs

Don’t overwhelm yourself with the number of pounds you have to lose. First, set a goal of losing 10 percent of your weight. I reached that in three months. Then set a second goal of losing another 10 percent of your weight. Eventually, you’ll just start focusing on reaching a healthier weight.
Beth Figliano, 48, lost 120 lbs

Get involved with an online community. When I started, losing the weight seemed impossible. I was looking for people who had been successful. I found a woman in the Weight Watchers online support forum who had lost 200 pounds and I thought ‘If she can do it, so can I.’
Darlene Murphy, 48, lost 232 lbs